Right in the nick of time to ease the stress of finals period, Johnny Dough, a late-night baked goods delivery service created and managed by Hopkins seniors Jimmy Lin and Christina Socias, will begin accepting online orders at midnight on Dec. 9.
With operating hours from 12 a.m. to 4 a.m. on Saturday nights during the regular semester and every night during finals period, this completely student-run service promises to provide hungry Hopkins students with warm, freshly baked goodies during late night study sessions.
Founders Lin and Socias are debuting their business this semester, but the duo have been friends since sophomore year. Socias, an International Studies major headed for a career in finance, and Lin, a Biomedical Engineer planning to attend medical school, may have different interests, but they feel the same about the limited availability of late-night snacks at Hopkins.
“We really just wanted to provide a service for Hopkins students because we realize that there’s just such a lack of food options open late at night when students are studying, “ Lin said.
To solve the problem of missing munchies on campus, the pair turned to their own baking experience for inspiration.
“When we study together we often bake cookies, and we have family recipes from scratch. We thought ‘this is really good’ and we gave [the cookies] up to our friends. We thought ‘Hey, why not share this with all of Hopkins?’” Lin said.
Starting at midnight next Wednesday, students can log on to Johnny Dough’s website, www.johnnydoughcookies.squarespace.com, to place orders.
Johnny Dough will require customers to purchase a minimum of $7 worth of goodies to place an order, but delivery is free.
Using their own cars and bikes, the Johnny Dough staff plans to deliver to the Homewood Campus student residence halls, the Brody café area and the Gilman Hall atrium. Off-campus delivery locations will include rowhouses and apartments between 30th and 39th Streets west of Guilford Avenue.
Some of the treats featured on the menu include chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter and Hershey kiss cookies, chocolate pretzel bites and chocolate covered peanuts. Johnny Dough also offers signature Hopkins blue chocolate chip cookies, which are coated in blue sprinkles.
“Our menu is going to be changing because we’re just starting, but as of now our main thing is the chocolate chip cookie. It’s a traditional, hot chocolate chip cookie that’s homemade, everything is homemade. And the idea going off of that is what we [also] like to think are good sweet and salty study snacks,” Socias said.
The recipes are simple and the treats are classics that the entrepreneurs hope will help students cope during stressful late night study hours.
“I like the chocolate covered peanuts,” Socias said. “It’s really simple when you think that it’s just a peanut with chocolate on it, but they are just really good. That’s a family recipe that I grew up with so I’m excited to introduce the chocolate covered peanut to everyone else.”
Even though Lin and Socias do not have that many final exams as seniors, they are working on maintaining strict time management in order to successfully launch their business. This includes getting school work done during the day in order to begin baking later in the evening.
“For different products we’ll start the night of, but we can also start the day before, not actually baking them but making the dough and getting the dough ready, but it’s all fresh so it will definitely be within 48 hours,” Socias said.
The service will launch at one of the most stressful times of the year for students, but the founders feel they are well-prepared.
“We’re not that stressed out, “ Lin said.
Along with providing warm comfort food for late-night snackers on campus, Johnny Dough also aspires to help students get involved.
“We also thought that if we plan on growing and hopefully, when we have a presence on campus, we can eventually hire students and get students involved that way,” Socias said.
At the moment, the Johnny Dough staff is small and composed only of Lin and Socias’s close friends. The company hopes to expand in the future and continue to offer the small business experience to students.
“I’ve had a lot of internships trying to find jobs and get experience, and it would be awesome if we could help students get experience working with a business,” Socias said. “So that’s one of our goals — to employ Hopkins students and be just all-students.”
As finals approach, Johnny Dough plans to advertise by offering free samples on campus.
“Feedback has been really positive,” Socias said. “The average response is ‘Oh wow that’s a really good idea. I could see myself ordering cookies.’’”
As Hopkins students become more familiar with the business, Lin and Socias have begun to respond to students’ thoughts.
“We receive suggestions too, like someone told us about gluten-free cookies, and now we’re looking to include gluten-free recipes as well,” Lin said. “That’s a great thing because we’re trying to provide this service for Hopkins students. We’re free for suggestions and welcome any feedback.”
After break, Johnny Dough plans to resume baking during intersession.
“We would love to continue this as long as there’s a demand,” Socias said.
